How to Stop Puppy Biting

What do you do when that sweet little puppy you brought home suddenly turns into a little alligator with 28 razor sharp teeth? As a professional dog trainer, one of the questions I am asked about most often is how to stop puppy biting.  To answer that question, it is important to understand why puppies bite, and to understand the difference between normal puppy play biting and aggression. 

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Why Do Puppies Bite?

Puppies explore their new world around them with their mouths. It is a part of their play and socialization. Through that play, puppies learn a very important skill, bite inhibition. When they bite their littermates, they learn through their littermate’s reaction whether or not the biting is too rough. Puppies who have been removed from their mom and littermates too early, often have not learned bite inhibition.

Young puppies also bite because they are teething. Puppy biting often reaches its peak when the puppy is getting in his first adult teeth, around 12-13 weeks of age. The teething will continue until all the permanent teeth are present at about 6 months of age. 

Another reason puppies bite is because they are overstimulated. Like a young child in desperate need of a nap who whines and cries for no apparent reason, young puppies will bite and nip when they are tired and overstimulated. When your puppy is overstimulated, trying to work on their behavior would be like trying to reason with a 2-year-old child. It is best to make sure the puppy is well rested and then work on a training plan. 

How To Prevent Biting from Happening

One of the best ways to address biting is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. Once we understand why our puppy is biting, we can correct that issue. 

If the puppy is biting objects, including your shoes, your hands, your hair, etc, he is likely teething. Make sure to provide appropriate teething items that can soothe the gums. Offer your puppy items of different textures that are made for puppies. Items that are too hard can damage the teeth.

Some great teething friendly toys are: Nylabone Chill and Chew Bone that can be frozen to soothe sore gums, these N-bone Teething Sticks, and the Nylabone Puppy Chew Ring. Choose a toy that is the appropriate size for your puppy. It should not fit completely inside your puppy’s mouth to prevent choking.

Puppies thrive off of routine. Scheduled nap times can make a huge difference in your puppy’s behavior. Even though your puppy may lay down and nap often, if he is not napping in a crate, he is probably not getting restful sleep. Anytime you get up and walk around the house, the puppy is up and following you, constantly listening and aware of where you are. Napping in a crate allows him to get sounder sleep. 

Check out my sample puppy schedule here to see how I incorporate routines into puppy training. 

How To Address Biting That is Already Occurring

So you provided your puppy with a schedule and he has all the appropriate teething items, but he is still biting. Now what?

This is where most people head to google and read that if their puppy bites them, they should give the puppy a toy to bite instead. While well-meaning, this advice can actually teach your puppy to bite you to initiate play. If you are ignoring him, all he has to do is bite you and then you grab a toy and play with him. 

While you do want to redirect the biting behavior, the key component that this advice is missing is that any time your puppy bites you, you have to remove attention and pause play. 

Interrupt – Pause – Redirect

The first thing to do if you puppy bites you is to interrupt the behavior. A loud “ouch” or hand clap to get your puppies attention. The next step is to pause. This element is key. Your puppy has to understand that biting equals stopping playtime. Immediately drop any toy that you were playing with, turn your back to your puppy, and if necessary, leave the room. All attention must stop when biting occurs. If you turn your back and your puppy continues to try to initiate play and jumps on you, leave the room without saying anything or further giving attention to him and shut a door behind you to block the puppy from following if necessary. Consistency is key for your puppy to understand that he can not play with his teeth. This is similar to how puppies teach bite inhibition to each other. If a littermate bites too hard, the puppy who is bitten will yelp and then stop playing. This teaches the puppy that if he wants playmates, he can not bite so hard.  The final step is redirect. This only occurs once your puppy is not actively trying to bite. Once you have stopped play and the puppy is not trying to bite, you may then give him a toy to redirect the behavior. This can be a toy or chew bone that he plays with by himself, or you can engage in play as long as he is being calm and it does not encourage him to play too rough again. This is also a good time to evaluate whether your dog is overstimulated and needs a break. It may be a good time to have a chew bone or Kong in the crate to rest. If your puppy is well rested, playing fetch or practicing obedience commands is a good way to get him the attention he is seeking in a positive manner rather than biting. 

Obedience Training to Curb Unwanted Biting

An easy exercise that I use to teach puppies not to bite is to teach them to get treats by not trying to get the treats. For this exercise, hold a treat in your fist, palm down. Your pup will smell the treat and will sniff, lick and possibly even bite at your hand trying to get the treat. Keep your hand in a tight fist and wait for your pup to stop actively trying to get the treat. As soon as your pup stops licking/pawing/biting or even better, takes a step back, mark the behavior with a “yes” and open your hand, palm up, and let the puppy take the treat. The first few times, it may take some time before the puppy backs off of the treat. With practice, the puppy will learn that if he doesn’t try to steal the treat, he will get the treat faster. This is a great exercise to teach your dog impulse control. If your puppy or even adult dog takes treats quickly, nearly biting your fingers, this exercise is a great way to stop that behavior.  It is also the exercise I teach as a precursor to teaching the leave-it command. 

Another obedience cue that can be helpful for biting is the focus command. It can be especially helpful for heel biting that is common in herding breeds. By teaching the puppy that it will get rewarded for making eye contact with you, it helps bring the focus off of your feet and away from biting.  

Puppy Biting is Normal, But it does Not have to be Accepted. 

While play biting is a normal part of puppy behavior, it is important to set boundaries early. Biting hands and skin should not be tolerated because it could lead to actual aggression issues in the future. If your puppy is biting with force or breaks skin, seek the guidance of a professional to eliminate the problem before it becomes a bigger issue. 

Keep in mind that physical and verbal corrections are not helpful in this situation. It only suppresses the behavior due to fear or escalates the behavior because the puppy feels it needs to defend itself. A proactive training plan and positive reinforcement of wanted behaviors are the best way to create a well-behaved puppy that is happy and enjoyable to live with. 

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